Biology subjects

Sattler, N. J.

Publications and source records attributed to Sattler, N. J..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

A stereotaxic atlas of primary cortical areas in the developing rat brain from postnatal days 8 to 20

Postnatal brain growth is non-linear, making precise stereotaxic targeting in the developing rat neocortex difficult without age-specific knowledge of cortical area locations. Traditional atlases visualize brain slices in the coronal plane, which can obscure top-down areal boundaries and sub-domains. To address these shortcomings, we created a developmental stereotaxic atlas that maps the neocortex of postnatal day (P) 8, P12, P16, and P20 in Sprague-Dawley and Long-Evans rats onto a coordinate grid. After using a stereotaxic device to create a grid of fluorescent probes, we extracted the brain, flattened neocortical tissue, and stained it for cytochrome oxidase, which is predominantly found in layer IV of primary cortical areas. Reconstructions of the primary somatosensory, auditory, and visual cortices demonstrate high structural reproducibility within each age and strain group. Our atlas captures the location of primary cortical areas at these 4 ages, showing that neocortical expansion is non-isometric, expanding preferentially along the rostral-caudal axis. Finally, we complement these top-down maps by extracting local neocortical surface angles from an existing coronal atlas, enabling proper electrode orientation to be tangential to the developing neocortex. Ultimately, this anatomically verified resource provides a standardized blueprint that eliminates resource-intensive trial-and-error mapping and maximizes experimental reproducibility in developmental systems neuroscience. Significance StatementTargeting specific neocortical areas in developing rats is uniquely challenging because non-linear brain expansion renders scaled adult coordinates inaccurate, while traditional coronal sections obscure top-down areal boundaries. To resolve this, we established a top-down stereotaxic atlas that maps primary sensory cortices onto flattened, cytochrome oxidase-stained tissue across early postnatal development (P8-P20) in both Sprague-Dawley and Long-Evans rats. By combining equidistant coordinate grids with empirical cortical surface angles, this resource provides an accurate, reproducible surgical blueprint. This reference tool eliminates trial-and-error coordinate mapping, reduces animal waste, and maximizes experimental precision for the developmental neuroscience community.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Cortex-wide spatiotemporal motifs of theta oscillations are coupled to freely moving behavior

Multisensory information is combined across the cortex and assimilated into the continuous production of ongoing behavior. In the hippocampus, theta oscillations (4-12 Hz) radiate as large-scale traveling waves, and serve as a scaffold for neuronal ensembles of multisensory information involved in memory and movement-related processing. An extension of such an encoding framework across the neocortex could similarly serve to bind disparate multisensory signals into ongoing, coherent, phase-coded processes. Whether the neocortex exhibits unique large-scale traveling waves distinct from that of the hippocampus however, remains unknown. Here, using cortex-wide electrocorticography in freely moving mice, we find that theta oscillations are organized into bilaterally-symmetric spatiotemporal "modes" that span virtually the entire neocortex. The dominant mode (Mode 1) is a divergent traveling wave that originates from retrosplenial cortex and whose amplitude correlates with mouse speed. Secondary modes are asynchronous spiral waves centered over primary somatosensory cortex (Modes 2 & 3), which become prominent during rapid drops in amplitude and synchrony (null spikes) and which underlie a phase reset of Mode 1. These structured cortex-wide traveling waves may provide a scaffold for large-scale phase-coding that allows the binding of multisensory information across all the regions of the cortex. Bulleted list of key resultsO_LICortical theta oscillations are organized into bilaterally-symmetric spatiotemporal modes that span the neocortex. C_LIO_LIThe dominant mode appears as a divergent traveling wave that originates in retrosplenial cortex and is correlated with mouse speed. C_LIO_LISecondary modes are asynchronous spiral waves centered over somatosensory cortex. C_LIO_LISecondary modes become prominent during transient drops in synchrony that underlie a phase reset of the dominant mode. C_LIO_LIWe hypothesize that spiral waves may provide a mechanism to exert large-scale phase separability, and assimilate information into ongoing multisensory processing across the neocortex. C_LI

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

A head-mounted multi-camera system for electrophysiology and behavior in freely-moving mice

Advances in the ability to monitor freely-moving mice may prove valuable for the study of behavior and its neural correlates. Here we describe a head-mounted multi-camera system for mice, comprised of inexpensive miniature analog camera modules. We illustrate the use of this system with several natural behaviors including prey capture, courtship, jumping, and exploration. With a four-camera headset, monitoring the eyes, ears, whiskers, rhinarium, and binocular visual field can all be achieved simultaneously with high-density electrophysiology. With appropriate focus and positioning, all eye movements can be captured, including cyclotorsion. For studies of vision and eye movements, cyclotorsion provides the final degree of freedom required to reconstruct the visual scene in retinotopic coordinates or to investigate the vestibulo-ocular reflex in mice. Altogether, this system allows for comprehensive measurement of freely-moving mouse behavior, enabling a more holistic and multimodal approach to investigate ethological behaviors and other processes of active perception.

neuroscience↗